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Allegations of high-level political interference surrounding a multimillion-euro VAT debt linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich escalated Thursday in Cyprus’ Parliament, with tensions erupting between lawmakers and investigative journalist Makarios Drousiotis.
The confrontation came during a heated session of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, which is probing how a Cyprus-based company allegedly linked to Abramovich, Blue Ocean, was dissolved in 2024 despite owing €14 million in VAT. The broader scandal, already under international scrutiny, has now become a political flashpoint.
At the center of the controversy is Drousiotis’ claim that in 2013, then-President Nicos Anastasiades personally intervened on behalf of Abramovich by calling his finance minister, Haris Georgiades, to ask for assistance in the matter, an allegation strongly denied by both Georgiades and Committee Chair Zacharias Koulias.
“I don’t believe it,” Koulias said, confronting Drousiotis during Thursday’s session. “Was there wiretapping? How do you know this happened?”
Drousiotis responded firmly, saying the information came from a source with direct knowledge of the call. “We didn’t wiretap anyone,” he said. “We did serious investigative work.”
The exchange came after Drousiotis, along with journalist Kyriakos Pierides, published a report in January through the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIReN) alleging that the VAT debt write-off began with political intervention. The journalist has maintained that while no direct evidence implicates Georgiades in wrongdoing, the phone call marked the start of a troubling pattern.
Georgiades, who attended the session in person, said the first he heard of the allegation was from a BBC journalist named Paul Grant earlier this year. “I have no recollection of such a call,” he said, “and I’m sure I would remember.”
Who owns Blue Ocean?
Officials reiterated during the session that Abramovich’s name appears nowhere in Blue Ocean’s formal records, not as a shareholder, executive, or beneficiary. Instead, the company was fully owned by a trust named The Neptune Trust Settlement.
But MPs remain skeptical. AKEL’s Irini Charalambidou and Green Party MP Alexandra Attalides questioned how Cypriot authorities failed to uncover Abramovich’s connection when multiple European investigations reportedly linked him to Blue Ocean. According to Attalides, the probe only began after alerts from foreign agencies uncovered a tax evasion scheme involving luxury yachts chartered through Blue Ocean.
“The most important thing is that the investigation didn’t start because we did our job,” she said. “It started because foreign countries notified us.”
Dissolution, debt, and dead ends
MPs heard from Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides, who outlined how Blue Ocean’s VAT debt accumulated between 2005 and 2010. The company appealed a €14 million assessment in court and lost. In 2022, the company’s directors resigned, and by 2024, Blue Ocean had been struck off the registry, with no VAT collected.
Markides defended the timeline, noting that tax authorities pursued the case through all legal channels. He also disclosed that one of Blue Ocean’s directors held roles in 540 other companies and another in 295, a red flag MPs said highlights systemic issues with Cyprus' corporate oversight.
Registrar Irini Mylona-Chrysostomou confirmed that Blue Ocean was removed from the register only after all legal objections had been withdrawn. She acknowledged, however, that directors can resign without checks on outstanding debts, leaving state authorities unable to collect.
Calls for reform, accusations of bias
The Audit Committee session grew increasingly combative as MPs criticized what they see as a pattern of inaction, or worse, deliberate shielding of powerful figures.
Attalides accused Chair Koulias of using his position to intimidate Drousiotis. “His attack was an abuse of authority,” she said. “You don’t discredit a country by demanding accountability. You discredit it by protecting the corrupt.”
Charalambidou echoed the sentiment, saying the case exemplifies failures in enforcement, oversight, and transparency. “We’ve seen this too many times, one company hiding behind another,” she said. “The structure enabled all the troubling events we saw in the committee today.”
Both MPs reiterated that Parliament has since passed reforms aimed at curbing shell company abuse, but warned that enforcement gaps remain.
A case with international ripples
The case has attracted attention abroad. German authorities previously investigated Blue Ocean, describing it as part of a €280 million pyramid scheme to launder money and avoid taxes. Yet Cyprus’ Financial Intelligence Unit (MOKAS) told the committee it had no information on the matter.
Critics say this raises serious questions about institutional coordination and Cyprus’ ability, or willingness, to investigate financial crimes involving politically connected individuals.
“This is not just about one company or one oligarch,” said Attalides. “It’s about whether Cyprus will ever have a system that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.”
More to come
The Audit Committee is expected to continue hearings and may issue subpoenas as it examines the roles of the Legal Service, the Tax Department, and the Registrar of Companies.
Meanwhile, the public is left wondering whether any of the missing millions will be recovered and whether the political cost of protecting the powerful may finally be coming due.
